Yael Writes

Happy November! I’m putting together this content roundup from beautiful Portland, Oregon, where I’ve been enjoying the fall colors and the rain. As always, I’ve been working on a lot of projects that I can’t post about yet, usually because they’re either ghostwritten or not completed. That said, here are a few things I’ve been working on.

Big Ass Data Broker Opt-Out List is a quick guide I put together for a cryptoparty in Phoenix, meant to assist people in getting their home addresses and phone numbers off of the web. To make it easier, I characterized opt-out methods with emoji. ☠ 🎫 📞 📠 📫 💰 To find a cryptoparty near you, check out https://www.cryptoparty.in/parties/upcoming.

The new season of Mr. Robot is in full swing, and I’ve been discussing the hacks with a group of amazing people. Our chat has moved from Forbes to Motherboard, which is really exciting for fans of the fabulous site, as well as people who object to ad blocker blockers or bad interfaces. Check out our discussions of the premier, Powers Saver Mode, Episode 2:Undo, or Episode 3: Legacy.

My biggest news for this month is that I have a fantastic new podcast cohost, Trevor Hultner. This also means that you can download our podcast on Apple Podcasts in addition to either of our Soundcloud accounts. I did attach three episodes below, on the birth control mandate rollback, executive order changes to military recall procedures, and warrantless surveillance. Enjoy!

It’s been a big month for posts! I interviewed one of my favorite comic artists, Evan Dorkin, who I first interviewed for a zine back in high school. My article on food deserts, which I’ve been working on for some time, finally went live. And, of course, it’s always a good month when I get to write for The Intercept. Check out those pieces and a few links below.

Happy August! If you’re like me, you spent most of July out of town. I was traipsing around Minnesota visiting family and friends, spending time on the lake and eating Juicy Lucies. I’d barely had time for my head to land on my own pillow before I headed out to Las Vegas for Def Con, the quintessential hacking conference that left me with dozens of ideas buzzing around my head.Still, I managed to publish two articles and a blog post in July. Unfortunately, both articles are paywalled. I would recommend subscribing to the Performance Menu for thirty bucks a year for access to health and fitness information (with a heavy dose of weightlifting). The other article is supposed to be available publicly soon, and I’ll update this post with corrections to the errors published. Last but not least is a heartwarming podcast (or as heartwarming as can be expected in our political climate) about the uphill battle for public data.

Instead of just listing blog posts each month, I’ve been bouncing around ideas to make this blog more interesting and relevant to you. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to implement, but I appreciate you sticking around, and I hope you enjoy this month’s fare.

Under Siege: How To Protect Your Digital Privacy (Consumers Digest) I spent weeks on this post, which was meant to be an overview of digital privacy and security concerns and ways to mitigate them. Sadly, I was never given the opportunity to view the final copy before it was published (despite multiple requests). As expected, the published version was riddled with editor-introduced errors. Because this piece is still paywalled (though I was told it would be public today), I’ll have to wait to describe the errors that were not corrected. (I was informed that only a few were forwarded on to the managing editor.) Other reporters tried to warn me about writing for this publication, but I’d signed a contract before hearing all of the horror stories. In case you’re wondering, I would definitely echo their sentiments. (Oh, and I still haven’t gotten paid for this.)

How To Make Your Gym Accessible To Everyone (Rather Than Just Your Rock Star Athletes) (Performance Menu) Unless you’re running a small, elite club for a few select athletes you hope to hone into Olympians or world champions, you could probably use some more business in your gym—or you could at least stand to keep the business you have. One of the best ways to do this is to target not just super athletes, but regular everyday joes. There are far more normies than there are star athletes, after all. This post gives suggestions on making your gym friendly and accessible to the common folk. (Yes, it’s paywalled.)

Independent journalist Tony Webster talks about the fight for public records in Minnesota after the City Council in Duluth recently tried to raise costs.

Since it’s a million degrees in Phoenix, I try to do most of my traveling in the summer. I was lucky enough to escape to Chicago for work and play, and shortly after heading home, I got to attend the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference right here in Phoenix. Here are four articles I managed to write amidst the whirlwind, as well as two podcast episodes from June.